Machine and method of fabricating glass run channels



G. T.'BALFE Jan. 10, 1939.

MACHINE AND METHOD OF FABRICATING GLASS RUN CHANNELS Filed Jan. 9, 1936 3 Sheets-Sheet l I NVENTOR. BY 550m? T561746 Pd/06m & Emir Ill illlllfllllll' ATTORNEY.

G. T. BALFE Jan. 10, 1939.

" MACHINE AND METHOD OF FABRICATING GLASS RUN CHANNEL-S Filed Jan. 9", 1936 s Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. BY George TEd/ffi Pan/m $510M ATTORNEY Jan. 10, 1939.

G. T. BALFE MACHINE AND METHOD OF FABRICATING GLASS RUN CHANNELS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 9, 1936 XXXXXX \XXXX m p WEB i 2 M V Patented Jan. 10, 1939 NITED STATES PATENT OFFIE MACHINE. AND METHOD OF FABRICATING GLASS RUN CHANNELS Application January 9,

7 Claims.

My invention relates to an improved mechanism for and method of fabricating glass run channels.

An object is to provide mechanism of the character described whereby a glass run channel having a metallic insert formed of wire may be rapidly and cheaply fabricated and particularly to provide improved mechanism for fabricating an improved wire mesh insert for such channel structure.

Another object is to provide an improved method of rapidly and economically fabricating as a continuous operation a glass run channel having a metallic insert and having an outer covering wrapped about such insert.

Other objects, advantages, and meritorious characteristics of my invention will more fully appear from the following specification, appended claims, and accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan of a machine embodying my invention,

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the machine shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of an end portion of the machine shown in Figs. 1 and 2,

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on. line 44 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 55 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional View taken on line 66 of Fig. 5,

Fig. '7 is a cross-sectional view taken on line l--'! of Fig. 1,

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 99 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view taken on line iii-i0 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 11 is a cross-sectional View taken on line H-il of Fig. 3,

Fig. 12 is a plan of the wire insert,

Fig. 13 is an end elevation of the structure of Fig. 12,

Fig. 14 shows the strip in the process of manufacture,

Fig. 15 is an end elevation of Fig. 14 and shows the flat strip with the covering material applied,

Fig. 16 is a cross-sectional view taken on line iii-46 of Fig. 14,

Fig. l? is a plan of the covered strip partly formed,

Fig. 18 is an end elevation of the strip shown in Fig. 1'7,

Fig. 19 is a plan of the formed channel,

1936, Serial No. 58,276

Fig. 20 is an end elevation of the channel shown in Fig. 19. and

Fig. 21 is a fragmentary section taken on line iii-2! of Fig. 7.

The channel which it is proposed to manufacture by my improved method and apparatus comprises a wire insert which forms the foundation or body that holds the covering material and cushioning material to its channel shape. This wire insert is made up of a pair of spaced parallel longitudinal supporting wires 30 shown in Figs. 12 and 14 and a series of strands of relatively fine wire 32 which strands are wound spirally about the supporting wires as shown in Fig. 12 crossing each other forming diamond shaped meshes. Three of these wire strands are here shown. This metallic insert is encased within covering material 36 which is wrapped thereabout being folded over the insert and adhesively secured in such folded position and compacted thereagainst so that the folds are adhesively secured together through the wire mesh of the insert.

A covering material which I have found well suited for this work is one formed of two laminations of material. There is an outer lamination 36 of felt or any suitable woven fabric and another lamination 38 which is of a composition material that is normally tacky and moisture resistant and provides cushioning characteristics. Material which I have found suitable is a composition formed of granulated cork, rubber and suitable well known fillers which are used in the rubber industry. It is moisture resistant. It possesses cushioning characteristics. This compound is secured to one face of the fabric and this two ply material constitutes what I term the covering 34. It is so folded over the wire insert that the composition ply is folded upon itself and compacted against the insert so as to extend therethrough embedding the wire insert within the cork and rubber layer. The folds of the material are secured in place by virtue of the normally tacky characteristic of this composition layer. According to the process hereinafter set forth and through the use of a machine such as I have described these operations are carried forwardly continuously and the covered Wire mesh is formed into channel shape as shown in Figs. 19 and 20.

In the first ten figures of thedrawings there is shown the mechanism whereby the channel is formed and this comprises a machine where a series of operations succeed one another in the fabrication of the wire mesh and the application of the covering material thereto and the shaping of the covered mesh into channel form. This machine comprises a frame 40 supported in any suitable manner upon standards, not shown. On one end of the frame two coils of the heavy wire 30 are supported upon spools 52 mounted for rotation for unwinding the wire from the spools. The wires 30 pass through a suitable guide 44 being withdrawn by feed rolls 16. Two of these feed rolls are provided. They are supported upon standards 48 from the frame. The feed-rolls are driven by gears or the like which may be chain driven by a chain drive 56. Numeral 51 indicates a casing over the ends of the rolls. This chain drive 56 may be in turn driven from a suitable source of power through a drive chain 52 which drives several suitable sprockets in any convenient and well known manner to actuate other portions of the machine.

From the feed rolls the wires 3% pass through wire passageways 59 through an arbor 5%, which arbor is supported by a standard 55. A wire winding drum' 58 is rotatably mounted upon the arbor. This drum is driven by a belt 6 in a suitable manner. The drum carries a plurality of fine wire spools 62, three being here shown. A coil of fine wire is wound upon each spool. The spools are stepped axially with respect to each other as indicated in Fig. 6.

A guide 64 is associated with each spool through which the wire passes as it is unwound therefrom. This guide directs the wire strand in the proper manner for winding about the heavy supporting wires 39. The wire strands upon the spools are indicated by the reference numeral 32. As shown in Figs. 5 and 6 these wire strands are directed to be wound about the supporting wires 30 as thesesupporting wires are advanced over opposite edges of a spacing plate 63 (Figs. 5, 6, and 21) which spaces the wires apart. These edges of the plate are grooved as at 65 to seat the wires 32, as shown in Figs. 5 and 21, so that the fine wire strands are wound spirally about the supporting wires 3 forming a wire mesh. These fine wires cross each other in this winding so as to form a mesh substantially as shown in Fig. 12. The wire mesh passes between the wire forming rolls 66, which are suitably supported and driven, which rolls press the wire strands 32 closely about the supporting wires 30 to snugly hug the same as shown particularly in Figs. 7 and 13.

A roll of covering material 34 in the form of a strip supported upon a suitable spool as shown at 68 is unwound therefrom passing over an idler roll Ii] and directed into overlying relationship upon the wire mesh insert by a shaper '52 which directs the covering material to fold about the wire mesh as shown in Fig. 14. This covering material is then compacted and compressed against the wire mesh, the folds being pressed together by the rolls 1 1 which are suitably supported and driven as shown, particularly in Figs. 1, 2, and 8 so that the resultant product following this step presents the appearance shown in Fig. 15.

This covered wire mesh then passes between what might be termed forming or shaping rolls 16 which are suitably supported and driven and illustrated in Figs. 1 and 9 and which shape the flat strip into partial channel form as shown in Fig. 18. From these rolls the partially shaped channel strip passes between forming rolls '18 shown in Fig. 1 and 10 which shape the strip a truing up element which imparts the final straightening and forming thereto. These rolls which form the strip into the channel form and which straighten the same are well known in the industry and are suitably driven as indicated by the chain drive 52, 53, 55, 51, and T! or in any other suitable manner. In Fig. 2 the casing is removed showing one of the chains 49 leading to the sprockets which drive the pair of rolls 66. The same method of drive might be employed with the other rolls.

In the formation of the channel here shown the fine wire strands are wrapped spirally about the heavy supporting wires as they are continuously advanced forming the mesh insert illustrated. As a part of a continuous operation the covering material is wrapped about the metallic insert being folded thereover and embedding the insert and forming a strip which is then folded upon itself into channel form to make the runway. The entire operation can be carried forward rapidly and economically. The resultant product is one wherein the channel may be bent to various curvatures to be received within curved channel supporting frames without breaking down or rupturing and yet maintain its channel shape. It is self-supporting. It will accommodate glass of varying thickness. The beads at the margins of the channel walls engage the glass pane snugly and resiliently on both sides to exclude the passage of air or moisture.

What I claim:

1. In a machine of the class described, mechanism for advancing a pair of wires in spaced apart parallel relationship including spacing means arranged therebetween engaging said wires and maintaining them in spaced apart parallel relationship during their advance over said spacing means, an element revolvable about said spacing means as a center, a plurality of wire strand carrying spool and guide assemblies supported upon said element in axially stepped relationship to revolve therewith about said pair of parallel wires wrapping the strand wires spirally thereabout.

2. In mechanism of the class described, a fixed arbor having a pair of spaced apart wire passageways, means for advancing a supporting wire through each passageway, a drum rotatably mounted upon said arbor, a plurality of wire carrying spools arranged in circumferentially spaced apart relationship upon said drum adapted to wrap wire strands about said pair of supporting wires as they are advanced, a wire spacing plate having one end supported in alignment with and between the wire passageways through the arbor and extending axially outwardly therefrom and adapted to maintain the wires advanced through the wire passageways of the arbor in spaced apart alignment, means for feeding a strip of covering material into overlying relationship with one side of'said wire strand wrapped pair of supporting wires and folding the covering material thereabout as said covering material and strand wrapped supporting wires are advanced in unison, and means for folding said covering wire reinforcing strip into channel form as the advance thereof is continued.

3. In mechanism of the class described, a fixed arbor having a pair of spaced apart wire passageways, means for advancing a wire through each passageway, a drum rotatably mounted upon said arbor, a plurality of wire carrying spools arranged in circumferentially spaced apart relationship upon said drum, a wire spacing plate having one end supported in alignment with and between the wire passageways through the arbor and extending axially outwardly therefrom and adapted to maintain the wires advanced through the wire passageways of the arbor in spaced apart alignment, each wire carrying spool arranged in axially stepped relationship with respect to the other wire carrying spools.

4. In mechanism of the class described, a fixed arbor having a pair of spaced apart wire passage ways, means for advancing a wire through each passageway, a drum rotatably mounted upon said arbor, a plurality of Wire carrying spools arranged in circumferentially spaced apart relationship upon said drum, a wire spacing plate having one end supported in alignment with and between the wire passageways through the arbor and extending axially outwardly therefrom and adapted to maintain the wires advanced through the wire passageways of the arbor in spaced apart alignment, said plate having one end associated with the arbor and having a channel formed in each edge, which channel extends as a linear continuation of the adjacent wire passageway through the arbor.

5. That method of forming a glass run channel comprising advancing a pair of supporting wires longitudinally while holding them in spaced apart parallel relationship, wrapping a plurality of wire strands individually about said supporting wires during their advance forming a flat wire mesh having a supporting wire extending along each edge, folding a strip of covering material upon itself about said flat wire mesh during the advance of the wire mesh and adhesively securing the covering material in such folded relationship upon itself through said mesh and progressively folding said covered wire mesh into channel form as the same is advanced.

6. That step in the process of forming a glass run channel comprising advancing a pair of supporting wires longitudinally while holding them in spaced apart relationship and wrapping a plurality of wire strands individually about said supporting wires transversely from one to the other during the advance of the supporting wires and in such a manner that each individual wire strand forms a spiral wrapping about the supporting wires and crosses the other wire strands wrapped thereabout.

'7. That method of forming a glass run channel comprising fabricating a flat wire mesh by advancing a pair of parallel supporting wires and Wrapping a plurality of mesh forming wire strands around said supporting wires as they are advanced forming a flat wire mesh with the supporting wires extending along the edges thereof, advancing a strip of covering material into juxtaposition with the advancing wire mesh and folding said strip of covering material about the mesh as the same is advanced, and compacting the covering against the mesh during its advance embedding the mesh therein and thereafter and during the advance of said covered mesh folding the same into channel form.

GEORGE '1. BALFE. 

